Simple Programmer Podcast

The Simple Programmer Podcast is a short podcast that is a mix of career advice, philosophy and soft skills from successful author and software developer, John Sonmez.
John is the founder of http://simpleprogrammer.com, one of the most popular software development blogs, and the author of the best-selling book, "Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual." (http://simpleprogrammer.com/softskills)
Geared towards a programmer or software developer audience, but contains practical advice on:
Career development
Entrepreneurship
Fitness
Finance
Productivity
Personal development
And more...
That anyone can benefit from.
Each episode is between 5 and 10 minutes long with at least 3 new episodes each week.

Have you ever felt like you sucked at something? This is exactly the topic of today's video.

As I often say, technical skills are not the most important thing when it comes to building a successful career. There is the old feeling of not being good enough and feeling like you sucked at something that will guide you through your career if you don't know how to handle it.

Do you feel like you suck at programming?

In this video, I'll tackle the problem of a reader that feels like she sucks at debugging. Should she change her area of specialization? Should she pursue something else? How can she overcome it?

I know you. You don't need to lie. I know you've probably done this before and that's ok.

Let me ask you something... How many times have you saved your best things (food, clothes, opportunities, money, etc.) for last? How many times were you waiting for the "Perfect" time to use all of this?

In this video I'll talk more about saving the best for last and why it should be as good as you think.

I'm currently in the process of releasing a new book and in this process I'm doing a lot of interview with some amazing names of the programmin industry. During this time, I recorder an interview and in this interview i heard something that got me thinking.

"Do It For You".

While this concept is not new for me, I started to think and to apply it for programming interviews. Do you do it?

When you're in the middle of a programming job interview, do you have a scarcity mindset of "I really need that job" or do you do it for you?

When you don't have a degree your options are definitely limited. You have a few paths you can follow but all of them will lead to a more limited option than if you had a degree... At least in theory and that is what most people think.

There are basically two options if you're in the middle of a graduation process: - Get a Job - Apply For an Internship

These two options will give you completely different outcomes, and you should be able to choose them well. What should you choose? Job or Internship?

It is no doubt that the job landscaping is going through profound changes. The internet has linked all continents and people can now communicate all around the world. However, this didn't come just in forms of communication, but it has also changed the way people hire and work.

It is no news that now, despite being locally limited, you can now compete with programmers from all around the world. It can be good because you're not limited to a geo area anymore but it also has some downsides.

One of the biggest downsides is competing with cheap programmers.

How do you compete with them? If price is one of the major factors that come into play for hiring someone, how do you get to bypass it? Watch this video and find out!

The Programmer Impostor Syndrome is one of the most popular syndromes programmmers face each day. I receive a lot of emails from people telling me that they got a job but they feel like they can't deliver.

What is the root of this fear?

During my career, I've applied for several jobs which were beyond my current knowledge at the moment and it made me really trained for that. As I like to say, feeling like a fraud can actually be good.

How do you don't feel like a fraud? How to overcome it? Watch this video and find out!

Mitch is one more of those awesome success stories I like to share with you guys to show that, once you start to put everything I teach you in this channel, the chances of success are close to 100%.

Here is part of how his life changed one he started applying what I teach in this YouTube channel: " I think you will probably remember me as I've emailed you several times in the past and commented on quite a few videos - but who knows, you have such a large reach know I think it would be easy to get lost in the crowd.

I have been watching your videos since December 2015 (back when you still had the squeaky voice in some of your videos and occasionally wore a fidora). At that point I was in my last semester of school, finishing up my BSc. Physics and Diploma in Enginnering Physics. I had NO idea what I really wanted to do when I graduated in approximately 4 months.

This was scary AF.

Very quickly I saw that my true passion was writing code. I had taken only 2 java classes, a Python class, a C++ class and an Assembly programming class. But upon reflection I realized that was what I really liked doing.

I had ZERO idea how to become a software developer with my current education. After asking around I came to the conclusion that is was possible - so I started watching YouTube videos.

I had to come up with a way to really learn to code, and learn quickly because I only had 4 months until I needed to get a job - and unemployment was not an option for me. I can't sit idle, I need to do things.

This is where you came in. I watched your videos and listened to your advice. I bought your blogging course and made my own blog. I then decided I was going to share with others as I learned and made a YouTube channel. On the channel I made (and still make) video tutorials for Android App Development. This accelerated my learning pace by x100. Teaching others is the single best way to learn something yourself. It forces you to develop a much deeper understanding. When your presenting something you can clearly see all the holes in your knowledge.

I started out only doing 1 or 2 posts a week but I was coding and learning a ton after school and on weekends. My first videos were shit and when I look back at them I cringe a little - so I completely understand how you felt when watching your old videos when you had that squeaky voice lol.

Fast-forward to graduation in April 2016: I managed to get an IT job at one of the largest companies in the province where I live. It wasn't a programmer job, but they employed programmers so I was very excited. I really believe the only reason they even brought me in for an interview is because of the technical skills I learned when teaching myself so code. I'm pretty good with people so that sealed the deal in the interview, but I doubt they would have called me without the programming/database skills I put on my resume.

Fast-forward to today: I quit my job about 4 months ago to do my own thing. I had done a few contract jobs building apps for people/companies while I was working my IT job and decided that I was going to give the YouTube and Freelance Android Dev thing a try - and really commit to it. Now everything is going really well for me"

So, a lot of people complain about not being able to achieve their goals.

"John, I want x...", "John, my dream is being able to do y"... What most people don't realize is that "want" without "action" is absolutely nothing! So, if you want something in your life, you must commit to action.

One of the most difficult things that us, as human being, must learn, is how to deal with emotions. I receive emails every day from people complaining about problems with anger, self doubt, etc.

How do you deal with all this stuff? Is there a simple solution for that?

One thing I've learned that really helps me with that is staying busy. Lately, I have so much to do that I don't have time to think about all this stuff. In this video I'll explain how staying busy can help you control your anger and self-doubt.

"Denis Noble (born 16 November 1936) is a British biologist who held the Burdon Sanderson Chair of Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of Oxford from 1984 to 2004 and was appointed Professor Emeritus and co-Director of Computational Physiology. He is one of the pioneers of Systems Biology and developed the first viable mathematical model of the working heart in 1960" (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Noble)

Today I've partnered up with Denis Noble to discuss about the theory of beliefs and how there is much more to that than what we already know. Biology is not what we think we know and, more and more, the scientific community is starting to see more evidence about it.

In this video, Denis will show how you can change your beliefs with the power of biology and how it can directly impact your life as a software developer.

A lot of people, at some point in life, get stuck in the dicotomy of brain vs. heart. These opposite forces tend to leave people out in nuts. How are you supposed to choose between heart or brain?

Heart is what makes you feel... It is the "thing" that brings out the emotions in your. It is what you "want", in its core. The brain, on the other hand, is responsible for the analytical thinking. It surpasses the reptilian brain in order to make "smarter choices".

How do you choose between the two? Whenever facing a new challenge, should you follow your heart or your head?

From time to time, I receive comments on my videos that are very intelligent and instigates me to answer them.

Recently, I've received a comment from a reader on the video "You ARE In Control Of Your Life". In this video, a fan told me "John, you're wrong. There is no you can do whatever you want. There are definitely consequences to that". Yeah, he is right!

There will always be consequences to your actions but you shouldn't let people stop you from doing what you want with your life. Wanna know why you need to start living for yourself and now let people live your life for you? Watch this video and find out!